Some residents in Alzheimer's disease and dementia-care facilities exhibit severe agitation and unprovoked loud, aggressive outbursts, often generalized and without any specific target. These behaviors prove to be highly disturbing to other residents, and can set off a ‘chain reaction’ of agitation. It has been observed that a human hand, gently placed on the agitated patient's back and rubbed in a circular motion, can often soothe the patient. The soothing effect is enhanced by softly spoken, reassuring language, and the calming effect can be almost immediate, thus ending the physical and vocal outbursts.
The major drawback with this treatment strategy is that it is labor intensive; the caregiver is locked into providing the gentle, rubbing contact and thus cannot attend to any other patients while delivering the calming contact. Moreover, the outbursts often resume as soon as the rubbing contact is discontinued. Thus, there remains a need for an improved patient care strategy. The present novel technology addresses this need.